Lynn University prepares for presidential debate

BOCA RATON — School's out for the summer, but with just 122 days until the biggest event in its 50-year history, Lynn University is alive with activity.

Look no further than the entrance, where heavy equipment and a construction crew are replacing an unobtrusive driveway and guardhouse with a dramatic new look. Harder to see, but perhaps more important: the ongoing communications infrastructure changes, including 70 miles of new cable being installed on campus.

Fall will bring even more excitement, Lynn President Kevin Ross said Thursday, because the university will become host to the biggest single event of the 2012 political calendar, the last of three presidential debates.

The Oct. 22 faceoff here between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney is just 15 days before Election Day.

Anticipating the eyes of the country and world focusing on Lynn, Ross said work is well under way to prepare the university for its moment in the spotlight. The two most visible projects, the new front entrance, a new perimeter road, and a new back entrance have been on the wish list for a long time, he said.

Donors Robert Sheetz, of Boca Raton and Benjamin Olewine III, of Harrisburg, Pa., and Boca Raton, each provided $1 million, covering most of the $2.2 million cost.

Ross said academic programs for the public and students are being developed to lead up the debate. But there won't be a big public presence at the university on debate day, when classes will be canceled and access limited. Debate tickets aren't available for the general public, and Ross said the school's allocation of a yet-to-be-determined number of tickets will be raffled off to students.

He said he's thinking of a daily golden ticket giveaway, inspired by the tickets that got winners factory tours in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." And, Ross has said, he'll be giving his own ticket to a student.

Most of the campus community will watch the debate at a viewing party on the soccer field – at the other end of the 123-acre campus from the Wold Performing Arts Center, where Obama, the Democratic incumbent, will face off for a national TV audience against Romney and any third-party candidates who also qualify.

Ross said the university is working with Boca Raton and Delray Beach, which plan public viewing parties of their own.

With 8,000 to 10,000 journalists, politicos and others converging on Boca Raton for the debate – far outnumbering the school's 2,100 students – university chief technology officer Chris Boniforti said a new data and communications network is being created.

He's preparing for 3,000 to 4,000 Internet connections and 1,300 phone lines. He expects about 3,000 personal computers operating on campus during the debate. AT&T and Verizon will be bringing in enough mobile repeater stations to accommodate 5,000 cell phone connections.